1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to containers for human or animal remains. More particularly, it relates to containers in which remains may be stored for a substantial period of time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many cases when a person has died, it is necessary to store the body for some extended period of time (i.e., for a period of days or weeks). For instance, if the dead person is suspected to have succumbed as a result of a crime, an autopsy will usually be performed to determine or confirm the cause of death. In many cases, however, it is also necessary to retain the body after the autopsy so that subsequent tests and examinations related to the criminal investigation can be performed. Similarly, when a person has died from unknown causes and an autopsy is performed, the results take some days or weeks to be returned from laboratory analysis. The remains must be retained during that period, for if the initial laboratory samples are lost or contaminated, or if the analyses prove inconclusive, it is will normally usually be necessary to obtain additional samples for analysis.
It is also common to save bodies to be used as cadavers for medical school education.
It is also frequently necessary to save the remains of animals. Frequently when an animal, particularly a farm, pet or food animal, dies of unknown causes, it is necessary for veterinarians to examine the body to determine the cause of death, so that if the cause is a communicable disease, its spread can be prevented. Also, when an animal, particularly a wild animal, has attacked and bitten a person and the animal has subsequently been killed, its remains will be analyzed for transmittable diseases, especially (for some species) rabies. As with examination of human remains, it will be necessary to store the animal remains for varying periods of time until all testing and examination have been completed.
Further, in many cases where the entire body of the person or animal is not retained, there is still a need to retain specific organs, tissue samples and the like for subsequent examination or analysis. The same problems of deterioration, odor and so forth pertain to such retained organs and samples as to an entire body.
There are many simple body bags in use for temporary storage of remains prior to burial or cremation. As an example, most common body bags used by hospitals, medical examiners or coroners are bags made of cloth, canvas or plastic sheeting. Most such bags are made in standard sizes for ease of inventorying, since a medical examiner or hospital must keep a supply of various sized bags to accommodate the remains of adults and children of correspondingly various heights and weights. Commonly such bags have a zipper or rib-in-groove closure (comparable to a ZipLock.TM. closure) running the axial length of the bag. This permits the body to be easily inserted into the bag and the bag closed with a minimum of difficulty. This type of bag also allows routine inspection of remains, such as for identification of an accident or crime victim by the next of kin.
Such bags are usually made of simple materials, such a single layer of cloth, canvas or polymeric film, and are permeable to both gases and liquids exuded from the remains. Also, such bags do not by themselves provide for more than short term retention of remains (such as for transport between an accident or crime site and a morgue). Where it is necessary to retain a body for more than just a few hours, the common practice is to place the body, still in the original body bag, into a refrigerated compartment, usually at a hospital, a municipal morgue, or similar facility. Such refrigeration slows decomposition of the remains but does not halt it. Thus, hospital or morgue workers or others who must be in the vicinity of the body, such as to inspect, analyze or obtain samples, find such presence and such tasks increasingly difficult, onerous and, in fact, dangerous as time passes and the body further deteriorates. Of particular concern are the noxious odors which decomposing remains generate when in the presence of oxygen. Not only are some of the gaseous decomposition products harmful to those breathing them, but almost all have noxious odors which can make nearby persons nauseous and, at the very least, limit the amount of time that such persons can or are willing to be in the presence of the body.
In the past, there have been a number of configurations of specialized body bags and other similar containers patented or described in the literature. Most often, these have been containers designed for transport of a body to a distant location for examination or burial, or have been containers intended to permit exhibit of a body as for viewing before or during funeral ceremonies. Other containers have been intended for emergency disaster use when it is anticipated that there will be large numbers of fatalities and the bodies must be rapidly collected and stored until proper burial can be arranged. A typical example of the latter type of bag is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,051 which describes a vinyl "pouch" having a two-part openable body access panel composed of inner and outer sheets. The outer sheet has a zipper and the inner sheet has a rib-and-groove fastener. The container is described as being odorless, flexible and waterproof.
Most of the types of bags described have proved to be cumbersome or not entirely satisfactory. Many transportation bags, for instance, are made of cumbersome heavy material intended to withstand the rigors of handling and shipment. On the other hand, lighter bags, even those often labeled "odor-proof," are usually made of thin polymeric sheet materials which do little to retard the escape of noxious decomposition gases from a bag. Thus, simple zipper-closured containers or rib-and-groove-closured containers constructed of plastic sheets (such as vinyl sheets) have not proved to be satisfactory for extended storage of remains because they permit escape of odors, notwithstanding the claims made for them.